NASA researchers are working on a laser propulsion system that could get to Mars in 3 days

2/24/2016

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The one thing still holding us back from
interstellar travel is our slow spacecraft and researcher are working on
solving this. With our present technology, it will take around five months to
reach Mars. But NASA scientist Philip Lubin is working on a system where lasers propel spaceship with massive sails to the Red Planet in only a time period of
three days.

Pretty much like Bill Nye's much-hyped solar sail, this 'photonic
propulsion' system count on on the momentum of photons to move forward. But as
an alternative of photons from the Sun's rays, Lubin's system would use a push
by huge Earth-based lasers.

It sounds pretty much unbelievable, but in a recent
video for NASA 360, Lubin clarifies that this technology is very much readily
available, and that the system could simply be scaled up. So, how do photons
work to propel something as big as a spaceship? Regardless of not having any
mass, particles of light have both momentum and energy, and when they reflect
off an object, that momentum is relocated into a little push. With a huge,
reflective sail, it's probable to produce enough momentum to slowly accelerate
a spacecraft.

At the moment, Lubin and his group haven't yet tested
their system, but their calculations show that photonic propulsion could transport
a 100-kg robotic craft to Mars in just three days.

Lubin and his group last year got a
proof-of-concept funding from NASA to demonstrate that photonic propulsion
could be used for space travel, so we should start seeing some real-life outcomes
soon. Find out more in the NASA 360 video: